Melanie McLean Brooks

Melanie McLean Brooks is a director, director of photography, sushi connoisseur and effervescent optimist. She began her career as a media liaison for the United States Air Force at Hiackam Air Force Base and soon after found herself in the New York City filmmaking scene for just over a decade. She has won a regional Emmy as director (and writer) for “Seatbelt Stories” in the 2022 Public Service Announcement category and is Emmy-nominated for her director of photography work on “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Portrait of a Queen” and “Out of the Closet.” She has led the camera department for numerous documentaries, including "Dykes, Camera, Action!," “Secrets of Playboy” and “Herstory: Women Changing the Game.” Her work has been seen on PBS, Discovery, MTV, Vh1, The History Channel, A&E, The New York Times, The Atlantic and NPR. She is currently director of photography on a feature documentary following a big-hearted Army veteran, a four-part series for PBS and an upcoming MTV Studios doc-series called Home Turf. Melanie holds Bachelors in journalism from Rutgers University and a Masters of Fine Arts in Social Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts in NYC.